Harvard Gets Islamic Workout

At Harvard University, the debate over religious tolerance is getting physical.

At one of the campus gyms, the school has agreed to ban men during certain hours of the week to accommodate Muslim women who say “it offends their sense of modesty to exercise in front of the opposite sex.” The decision has been incredibly unpopular across campus, and for good reason.

In the name of broadmindedness, the administration is giving preferential treatment to one religion over the others. The policy, which is being implemented on a trial basis, goes well beyond inconveniencing the men in the student body.

It shows Harvard’s willingness to push conformity with Islamic law. Unfortunately, we are seeing an outbreak of this type of reverse discrimination in schools across the country.

They make special concessions for Muslim students to practice their religion but stifle the rights of Christians to publicly pray or worship. Promoting modesty has not been high on the Ivy League’s agenda in other settings either.

Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council. This feature is excerpted from the Washington Update that he compiles for the FRC.